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Category Archives: Giving Back

Thank you for lending a helping hand in your community! Image credit: http://www.clker.com

Congratulations To Saint Child!

Winner of the Cash4Books $1,000 Summer Charity Giveaway

We are pleased to announce that Saint Child is the winner of the Cash4Books.net $1,000 Summer Charity Giveaway. Saint Child was nominated by Cheryl, from our very own hometown of Beaverton, OR. As Cheryl noted in her nomination form, Saint House “provides a home for pregnant women with nowhere else to go.” You can read more about Saint Child on their website.

It was wonderful to read through the charity nomination submissions and discover the compassionate nature of our customers. We had nominations from all over the country and for all types of charities. Thank you to all who participated.

We definitely will hold similar charity giveaways in the future, so make sure to check out our Facebook page and sign up for our email list to stay informed. Also, make sure to check out some of the volunteer work of Cash4Books employees. Feel free to let us know about some of your favorite charities in the comments.

Thanks again to all who nominated their favorite charity and congratulations to Cheryl and Saint House!

This got me thinking about the many benefits of summer volunteer events. You can get your whole family outside and actually enjoy the sunshine and warm weather. Additionally, if you pick the right volunteer event you can actually get yourself and your family some decent exercise. I know I was pretty sore after one of our previous volunteer events. Finally and perhaps most importantly, you are able to give back to the community!

We’d like to hear from you about summer volunteer event ideas that are great for the whole family. Or let us know about a previous volunteer event that you enjoyed. We’ll pick our favorite and the winner will get a $100 Donors Choose gift card!

I’ll confess (to the surprise of absolutely no one who knows me) that I love getting gifts. But as I’ve grown older (or maybe just since I started living in Portland), I’ve been volunteering more, which I’ve found to be as rewarding- if not more so- than unwrapping presents.

I don’t know if it’s an actual trend but I’ve been reading a lot of instances in which people who are celebrating some sort of occasion in their lives would ask their family and friends to donate money to a particular charity they’ve chosen in lieu of gifts. I always like to point out to people that money isn’t the only thing they can donate. Time is a valuable commodity as well.

What I decided to do for my recent birthday was have a special volunteer session at one of my favorite local non-profit organizations- the Children’s Book Bank. I knew my core group of friends was already of the charitable sort so it wasn’t that hard to convince them to do this for me. I wanted to do something that made a difference, to make some sort of impact, and I wanted to share the experience with others. I, for one, enjoyed myself and appreciated my friends more in the process.

If there’s a charitable cause or charity you’re passionate about, ask the organization if they hold birthday volunteer sessions. Let your friends know what you’re planning and why it’s important to you. It doesn’t have to be a four-month advance notice like mine. (I told you, I love birthdays!) More importantly, have fun!

Recently, I spoke with a friend of mine that works for a state & local funded organization. This organization (to remain unnamed) is quite large in the Portland Metro area. He described that there were a number of times they had technical & professional books that were just “thrown away” because they didn’t know where to donate books. Their organization has a layer of red tape that does not allow books to be sold for profit. I told him that he should have sold the books to my company, Cash4Books.net, and then donated the money to charity. I am sure that the Management team would have at least listened to a better solution such as giving the money to a charity. This story brings me to this Green Frugal post about turning used books into donation dollars for your favorite charity.

Whether you are an individual with a bookshelf full of books, or if you can relate to the story above, please consider selling used books and donating the money collected to charity!

Turn used books into donation dollars for charity

Follow these easy steps to turn new or used books into donation dollars to help your favorite charity:

Doing it this way ensures that you or your business/organization gets the tax write-off for the charity donation. After receiving the check or PayPal payment from Cash4Books, you simply pass on the money to your charity.

Two shirts, a pair of pants, pajamas, boots and a warm jacket. Cash4Books employees dedicated their Wednesday evening to Northwest Children’s Outreach, packing care bags teeming with items like those above for children in Portland and the surrounding communities. Each Cash4Books employee had the pleasure of sifting through donated clothing items, to choose outfits for girls and boys. Each child was also gifted with several books and toys. It was particularly fun to reminisce over titles and games of our pasts.

Theresa, our Accounts Payable Specialist, has been volunteering with the Northwest Children’s Outreach over the past year, and brought this wonderful organization to the attention of Cash4Books employees. “I initially volunteered at NW Children’s Outreach to expose my children to doing something for others,” said Theresa of her initial involvement with the organization. “I was shocked to learn how dire the need was for so many children locally, and how my efforts made a direct impact. The organization is 100% volunteer run and all donations go directly to the children. What a great idea!!”

Northwest Children’s Outreach works with local care providers who identify, meet directly with, and prescreen children in need. Arrangements are then made to acquire supplies through purchase and donations, which are sorted and packed by volunteers weekly.

“The other day I was lucky enough to get a child whose birthday was coming up. They save the nicest donations for birthday gifts. Knowing I was preparing a gift for a child that probably wasn’t getting anything else was incredibly rewarding. This organization is doing so much for those most vulnerable, and I’m so happy to do my part,” recounts Theresa.

As part of their mission, Northwest Children’s Outreach “stands in the gap” between poverty and caring agencies with resources to help children and the needs of their families. Serving children from infants through teenagers, they are always looking for donations of the following items: